


let Optimus sleep

by kidotix



Series: Malgus 817.26 Iota [4]
Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: (he'll be fine), Gen, M/M, Past Relationship(s), i have no idea where this fits on the timeline, i made it up! i made it all up for character moping, mentions of injuries but they aren't shown, mostly Optimus being tired as shit, no idea at all, sentinel is fuckin passed out the entire fic, the relationships are very in the background sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 06:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kidotix/pseuds/kidotix
Summary: The Elite Guard was kind enough to help the Earthbound Autobots retrieve a few Allspark Fragments scattered outside of Detroit. They were not kind enough to avoid giving Optimus an urgent summons in the middle of the night, immediately requesting his presence half-way across the country.





	let Optimus sleep

Optimus was grateful to finally be able to transform out of his altmode, stiff joints creaking as he yawned. He'd gotten the call to come to the Elite Guard's location at Arizona just before he'd been about to enter his sleep cycle after a long day of dealing with the troubles of Detroit, and it had been nearly fifteen megacycles of non-stop driving to get there. They had said it was urgent, after all... Now he just needed to find their ship.

Tapping the com link on his helmet, Optimus squinted up at the sky, still pitch black. "Optimus to the Elite Guard, I'm in the area. Where..." Optimus barely stifled a yawn. "...Where is the position of your ship?"

"Hey Optimus," Jazz replied. He sounded almost as tired as Optimus did. "Don't worry, I'll send Jetfire to go and grab you." There was a brief cacophony of protests on the other end, followed by Jazz's resignated sigh. "And Jetstorm. They should be there soon, so sit tight."

"Understood," Optimus agreed, letting his hand drop. Hopefully they would be there before he dropped from sheer exhaustion. "Hey, Ra..." Optimus paused, reaching up again to actually turn his com back on and connect to the base back in Detroit. "Hey, Ratchet?"

It took several moments for him to get an answer, by which point he was nearly tipping over, eyes closed. "Optimus? What in Primus's name are you doing calling this early?" Ratchet's voice said over the com, causing Optimus to automatically snap to attention.

"Oh, right," Optimus said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, I didn't realize you guys were still in sleep mode. I just wanted to let you know I arrived, so you can... you can call the Elite Guard ship, if you need me... or anything."

It would have been... two megacycles into the solar cycle there, maybe? The time adjustment on this planet was easy to forget about, whatever they called it... time zones, if he remembered right.

"How are you there already?" Ratchet asked, surprised. "It's only been a solar cycle, Sari said the trip would take four!"

Optimus made a vague noise of agreement. "Yeah, but that's if I stopped. I figured it was an urgent message, so..."

"Boy, you're gonna drop offline at that rate," Ratchet said flatly. "I dunno what nonsense Sentinel wants you for, but you'd better recharge right after, or so help me I'll take your legs off myself until you do!"

Optimus laughed. "Yeah, okay. Hopefully I won't have to be in such a rush getting back." A vague orange-blue blur in the corner of his eye drew his attention, and he stared at it waiting for his eyes to focus. "I think Jetfire and Jetstorm are here, so I'll call you back later. Go get some sleep, friend."

"Yeah, yeah," Ratchet said. Optimus could all but see him shaking his head. "Don't let that blowhard push you around, kid. Over and out."

Optimus smiled to himself as the twins finally came into focus, landing in front of him. It could have just been exhaustion making him imagine things, but Optimus could have sworn there was something mischievous in their grins.

"It is nice seeing you again!" Jetfire greeted Optimus eagerly, shaking the other robot's hand. "We will be taking you right to the ship."

"It is not far," Jetstorm added, waving a hand, "So do not worry."

"Thanks, you two," Optimus said. In a moment they had transformed and started down the road, the brisk pace set by the twins managing to keep the Prime awake. "Do either of you know what this is about?" Optimus couldn't help but ask. "Jazz didn't tell me much."

He couldn't help but think the twins were exchanging glances. "It is Sentinel Prime, sir," Jetstorm said, all but confirming what Optimus had already figured. "He was looking for fragment in... ah, what do you call it?"

"Very big hole," Jetfire tried to explain, "There were many humans around it."

"I think they call that the Grand Canyon," Optimus said, suddenly unsure of the direction this conversation was going. "What happened, what does he need me for? Even if he couldn't get it, there's no way he would call us in."

"Well-" Jetfire began, before being shushed by Jetstorm.

"Do not worry!" Jetstorm said quickly, "Jazz will explain now, we are here!"

They transformed quickly, walking up the ramp into the ship. Optimus had to blink against the bright lights inside, optics straining to adjust. Jazz was there.

"Alright, you two go and stay outta trouble for a while," Jazz directed the twins. "Optimus and I need to have a chat."

"Okay!" The twins chorused, smiling innocently. There was no way that they wouldn't get into trouble, Optimus could tell- Bee and Sari had taught them all to recognize that grin by heart. Still, they had already scampered away before he could comment, and Jazz was waving him down the hallway.

"I'm still not sure what's going on," Optimus admitted to Jazz. "Is everything okay?"

"Well..." Jazz sighed, shrugging and gesturing vaguely. "Things are stable. Sentinel took a little bit of a dive, searchin' for that Allspark Fragment."

Optimus's circuits ran cold. "He fell down the _Grand Canyon?_ Are you kidding?"

Jazz shook his head. "'Fraid not. The twins managed to pull him out, but..." He got quiet, opening the door into the medbay. Sentinel was lying on a table, clearly in awful shape. "I'm not a medic, and the next in line to figure out what to do is... is his Conjunx Endura." Jazz looked away as Optimus processed that. He was definitely awake now-

His optics blurred hard, and his footing nearly wavered. No, he wasn’t, he was still exhausted- exhausted and drained and with a new, hard pain in his spark, that he'd thought died down stellar cycles ago. "Right," Optimus said quietly, head bowed. He would have thought Sentinel would have had that bond legally dissolved ages ago, but apparently even he couldn't get around needing all remaining parties present, and Optimus was too busy hiding in deep space like a coward to reach. "Tell me his status."

"Like I said, he's stable," Jazz said, "But I can't risk starting repairs without someone more qualified to monitor things, and his vitals start dropping like crazy whenever we try and move him. We could try moving the ship, but he is in charge of part of the controls. I don't think we can get him cross-country to your Medibot on wheels, either, not without..." Jazz dropped that line of thought. "So it's up to you. Final say on dangerous medical decisions, and all that."

Optimus rubbed at his eyes, processor sluggishly running through choices. "I... I'll contact Ratchet. Maybe he can come out here to take care of things. I don't think we should risk moving him either." He could hardly look at him. Thank Primus they were even able to take Sentinel back to the ship in one piece- what was he thinking?

Jazz nodded. "After you make the call you should get some rest, big guy," Jazz said delicately. "He's not going anywhere just yet."

Optimus nodded, forcing up a smile. "Okay. You should too, you look about as tired as I am."

Jazz waved him off as Optimus left the medwing, following the by now well-known path to the bridge. He could hear the twins following at a distance, but focused his attention on the monitor in front of him, quickly connecting to its counterpart in Detroit. "Optimus Prime to Autobots. Anyone there?"

A yellow helmet moved into view on the screen. "Prime?" Bumblebee asked, startled. "Jeez, you look _terrible!"_

"I'm better off than some people," Optimus said, trying to keep his voice even. "Bee, can you find Ratchet for me? I need to talk to him, it's important."

Something in Prime's demeanor seemed to betray the weight of the situation, because Bee agreed without a second word, nodding and running off-screen to locate the Medibot. Optimus sighed, looking down and trying to make sense of the control panel while he waited for his teammate to return. "You two can come out now, just so you know," Optimus said to the twins. The two stepped out into the open abashedly, quickly finding their usual seats as Ratchet and Bee both appeared on screen.

"Didn't I tell you to get some sleep?" Ratchet asked sternly, frowning. "What are you still running around for, Prime?"

Optimus considered the best way to go about telling them the bad news, before settling for the direct route. "Sentinel is in near-critical condition," Optimus said simply. "He's hanging on right at the threshold. We'll either have to come over there, or have you drive over here- we aren't able to move him without significant risk."

"What?!" Ratchet exclaimed, optics wide. "Why didn't you just have me come over in the first place!"

Optimus opened his mouth to reply, before closing it. _Oh, well you see Ratchet, they were actually Conjunx Endura for stellar cycles before their shared partner was declared dead because of his own malfunction and Sentinel decided he hated Optimus down to the deepest corners of his spark, but because of ancient traditions and both of them being too scared to even face each other, he still has final say on if they should even expend resources trying to save Sentinel's life._ "I had to come here to be able to pilot the ship, in case you weren't able to make the trip," Optimus said instead, hoping the weak excuse held up.

"I'm not trusting you in the seat of a new ship in your condition, especially not one with a patient in that condition," Ratchet said flatly. "I'll come over with Prowl as backup, alright?"

Optimus nodded. "That sounds fine to me. Thanks, Ratchet."

"Don't mention it, kid," Ratchet said. "Now get some sleep!" The transmission cut off.

The twins exchanged a glance, before sneakily looking up at Optimus. Jetstorm was the first to break the silence.

"Why do you not just tell him you are Conjunx?" Jetstorm exclaimed.

"Why are you not telling _anyone?"_ Jetfire asked, looking just a bit more concerned. "Is it secret?"

Optimus waved a hand. "It's a long story," Optimus said simply, "And that was from a long time ago. We aren't really anymore, it's just... a legal relic. Don't worry about it."

"Oh," the twins quieted down, shuffling their feet. Jetstorm looked up. "Do you need us to show you your room?" the young bot asked.

"Nah," Optimus said, yawning. "I'll be fine. You two have a good night, okay?" The duo nodded, waving him off as he vanished down the hallway, slowly retracing his steps. The doors into the medwing caused him to hesitate, waiting to hear some kind of sound from inside, but there was only the quiet noise of the equipment. Sure enough, when he walked inside, Jazz was gone.

Optimus carefully crossed the room, not bothering to turn on the lights, before he sat down next to the table Sentinel was resting on. "You really know how to run a bot through the wringer, huh? And you don't even need to be conscious to do it. That's impressive." Optimus looked at the other robot's face, as though expecting some kind of response, before sighing. "You're an idiot. You'd better be back on your feet soon, Sentinel."

Optimus's hand moved to rest on top of the other Autobot's, head hanging. _He hates you, Elita can't be saved, you brought this on yourself- it's just a legal relic, something that should have never come up again._

Optimus's head ended up resting on the table, and he was out and asleep before his processor could even start piecing together his frazzled thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> Written 8/26/17  
> This doesn't fit well in the timeline, but it's not like I actually have a timeline here. I also don't know how the legal system of Conjunx works, since it's not really touched upon in TFA! So I made stuff up. It's all made up.


End file.
